Chess Grandmaster turns hedge fund manager seeded by Peter Thiel

Patrick Wolff is the founder of equity long-short hedge fund Grandmaster Capital, seeded by PayPal founder Peter Thiel. Patrick is also a 2-time U.S. chess champion and holds the rank of Grandmaster.

In this Opalesque.TV interview, Patrick describes his transition from chess champion to Silicon Valley dot-commer, and into the investment management world to eventually start his own investment management firm in January of 2011. He gives insight into his strategy, which he calls “4 parts Warren Buffett, 1 part Peter Thiel,” which combines global macro analytics from his experience at Thiel’s Clarium with bottom-up Buffett-style fundamental stock picking of companies. This approach stresses the identification of major global macro headwinds and large macro imbalances to avoid the wrong “sandbox”, or risky markets to play in, which can have a profound effect on earnings power of companies. His investment outlook is that of a “Fortress USA” philosophy, where investing in US companies is a far safer practice than in emerging markets or China, which he says has an unsustainable structure of economic growth and is headed for recession.

Learn about:

From Silicon Valley dot-com insider to hedge fund manager

Starting a new investment management firm in a turbulent 2011 environment

“Fortress USA”: Global macro risk makes betting on US companies safer

Observations on the history of emerging market growth data

China’s next decade will be fundamentally different

Why globalization is likely to slow down or possibly even reverse

The impact of China’s potential recession on emerging markets

Taking advantage of global macro uncertainty

China’s uphill battle to adjust to consumption-driven

Translating chess brilliance to investment management

Patrick Wolff is the Founder and Managing Member of Grandmaster Capital. His business career started in 1997 at Mercer Management Consulting where he worked as a strategy consultant. From Mercer, Mr. Wolff went to Silicon Valley where he worked at two internet startup companies. In 2001, Mr. Wolff went to Capital One where he worked for four years in marketing and M&A roles. Mr. Wolff joined Clarium Capital Management in 2005 and served as a Managing Director and as a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Between 1989 and 1995, Mr. Wolff played chess professionally. He is a Grandmaster, was twice the United States chess champion, and is the author of several books on chess. Mr. Wolff holds a BA in philosophy from Harvard University and is a chartered financial analyst. [less]

Patrick Wolff is the founder of equity long-short hedge fund Grandmaster Capital, seeded by PayPal founder Peter Thiel. Patrick is also a 2-time U.S. chess champion and holds the rank of Grandmaster.

In this Opalesque.TV interview, Patrick describes his transition from chess champion to Silicon Valley dot-commer, and into the investment management world to eventually start his own investment management firm in January of 2011. He gives insight into his strategy, which he calls “4 parts Warren Buffett, 1 part Peter Thiel,” which com ...more

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Matthias Knab Posted On Jan 09 2013

Investment Strategies may not be universalized in terms of markets, IMHO, as Patrick Wolff, though Chess Grand Master he is. The Globalization is not a fashion that changes periodically. It simply means the markets are tightly knit and not separate sandboxes any longer. The bubbles are the outcome of mismatched markets and investor sentiments. If hedge fund managers believe one thing and the reality is altogether different then bubbles will take place again and again. Why not AIG and other insurers come with an insurance product to insure against this mismatch?